Pay It Forward...Sweet Karela (Bitter Melon)

So here I am with my 'Pay It Forward' for this week.

This time, it's just a small gesture - thinking of something which is of importance to him.

My friend's son is a UMass Lowell graduate student. He lives near the college and we do meet once a week on Saturday (I am not sute if I wrote a post for this 'pay it forward').

He has a high level of sugar in blood and needs to be cautious about his diet. He needs to control his intake of carbohydrate and sugar.

While I was shopping for Indian Grocery, I saw a vegetable from India - Karela (Bitter Melon?) and thought of him. It's not so usual to spot this vegetables. Not because it is rare, it's the bitter taste which it's not so likable. But it has a very good medicinal value.

What is Karela? (from one of the online source)
Karela is one of nature’s bountiful gifts to mankind. Rich in iron, the bitter gourd has twice the beta carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, twice the potassium of bananas, and contains vitamins C and B 1 to 3,  phosphorus, and good dietary fiber. Bitter melon has an action similar to insulin thus helping in glucose metabolism. It is used for treating diabetes mellitus. It also works as an appetizer, and aids digestion and assimilation because it promotes the secretion of digestive enzymes.

And, when we met him on Saturday, we did give him his vegetable medicine. And I was glad to know that he would extract the Karela juice daily morning - and drink it.